Father of the Smart Grid first ETS 'Thought Leader of the Year'

The Energy Thought Summit (ETS) has announced that it will honor University of Minnesota Professor Dr. Massoud Amin as its first-ever Thought Leader of the Year during ETS15.

Launched by ETS this year, the Thought Leader of the Year award recognizes an individual with an inventive, brave vision to inspire the global energy ecosystem. By leveraging the ETS committee and expansive network, each year the prestigious award will select one thought leader.

Dr. Amin, who participated in ETS14, was selected by an ETS committee from among 175 of his peers for outstanding contributions to energy knowledge exchange and thought leadership in 2014. He will be recognized by Andrew Johnston, ETS president and Andres Carvallo, ETS chairman for this achievement during ETS15 on March 25 in front of attendees, fellow thought leaders, and media.

I have had the privilege of presenting at several superb venues, including TEDX, PopTech and many other great events, but truly appreciate and enjoy participating in ETS because of its unique focus on energy and its diverse audience, said Dr. Amin. Im humbled and honored by this recognition and look forward to another terrific ETS filled with thoughtful conversations, seeing old friends, making new partnerships, and most importantly, powering progress with tangible outcomes for our industry.

Regarded as the father of the smart grid, Dr. Amin is the Director of the Technological Leadership Institute at the University of Minnesota and a Distinguished Teaching Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering within the universitys College of Science and Engineering. The Honeywell/H.W. Sweatt Chair in Technological Leadership is regarded as a leading cyber security expert and has advised the White House, governors and other agencies about innovative solutions and pragmatic strategies to prevent against advanced threats.

During ETS15 Dr. Amin will deliver the 2020 Outlook on Wednesday and he will participate in a panel discussion about the Workforce of the Future on Thursday alongside Dr. Rajit Gadh, WINMEC Director at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Dr. Stan McClellan, Director Ingram School of Engineering at Texas State University.

Massoud Amins teachings and work on power grid theory and research over the last 30 years, plus his industry contributions to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Electric Power Research Institute, Texas Reliability Entity and Midwest Reliability Organization have blazed many trails and Zpryme & ETS | March 6, 2015 | V1 helped deliver much better reliability and security to our power infrastructure. said Andres Carvallo, Chairman of ETS, Chief Executive Officer of CMG and Former Chief Information Officer at Austin Energy. His passion, dedication, and tireless quest for the best answers have inspired so many across the globe in this industry and we are thrilled to add another achievement to Dr. Amins long list of accomplishments.

We are elated to recognize Dr. Amin as our inaugural Thought Leader of the Year to and look forward to standing alongside this inspirational individual as he shows us and ETSs attendees how to take on the growing challenges confronting the energy industry, such as maintaining and expanding critical infrastructure and ensuring the security, health, welfare and safety of our nations nearly 400 million citizens, added Andrew Johnston, ETS President.